The invention relates to electric motors, and more particularly to electric motors having a reverse air flow cooling system.
Electric motors often include a fan within the motor housing to direct air through the housing to cool the motor components. In the past, the fan has generally been mounted at the shaft-end of the motor to push air through the housing towards the lead-end of the motor. Greater cooling can be obtained if the fan is mounted at the lead-end of the motor so that the fan pulls, rather than pushes, air through the motor. However, with the fan at the lead-end of the motor, motor leads may interfere with, or become entangled in, the fan as the leads extend from the stator to the control compartment positioned at the lead-end of the motor.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,563,461 provides one solution to the lead wire problem by routing the lead wires through a baffle or lead guide mounted adjacent the fan.